Francis Regis McKinley Jr. is listed among those soldiers who fought for our freedom during the Vietnam War and who earned a Purple Heart… well, two to be exact, except both are for the same artillery attack in which he was wounded.

He was embarrassed to be singled out for his service since others in the county were in Vietnam and even wounded. Plus he said, “That’s all in the past. You have to live for the now.”

I too want to join the growing criticism of Shelby County Public Schools Superintendent James Neihof.

The recent divulgence of the theft of an undisclosed amount of public funds by an employee at the SCPS central administrative staff is in itself an indicator of a lack of accountability, responsibility and leadership.

Family history in Shelby County is a cottage industry. The heritage of so many goes back not only to the days of Squire Boone and his bedrock but seemingly to the founding waters of Clear Creek itself.

Names such as Meriwether and Ballard begat Shannons and Matthews and Van Stockums. You read this history, and you connect dots. As my friend Brig. Gen. Ronald Van Stockum often has told me, the things we learn about our heritage in the Internet-driven world is amazing.

In Bob Pearce’s June 4 My Word column [“How Japan used WWII to win the auto battle,” June 4] it was erroneously stated that the pilots of The American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tiers” were successful against the Japanese pilots because the Japanese equipment may have been “junk,” and because the American P-40 Warhawk fighter airplane was “so far superior to anything” the Japanese had.

A real U. S. Patriot died on May 14, 2014. His name is C. (for Cornelius) L. Love.

I’m not sure how old he was at the time of his passing, but he was well into his 90s.

A Mississippi native, Mr. Love would have undoubtedly had a brilliant future were it not for the injuries, physical and mental, that he suffered during World War II. As it was, he was a very unique person, known far and wife for his friendliness, and his willingness to go “that extra mile” to a friend in need.

As a “second shift” parent – an older adult who is now parenting a second family – I am rediscovering the joys of parenthood, as well as the occasional frustrations.

Young children take a lot of time, patience, attention and energy. When you are dealing with two children under the age of three, these resources can seem to be in short supply. This supply and demand problem is further complicated because the kids are seldom on the same page. Most of the time their needs are in direct opposition.

Here is a recent picture of the riotously yellow field across from the dreadful outlet mall development. Everything in this photo will soon be destroyed and replaced by hotels, fast food, gas stations, traffic, etc.

Maybe someone someday will ask: “What was here before all of this ugliness? Was it anything beautiful?” Which do you really prefer?

Every time Howard Pearce and I had an opportunity for a serious discussion, which was rare, I would often say something like “that isn’t fair.” He would say, “Life was not meant to be fair.”

He never got around to explaining why. That’s rather like saying to a child who asks one those inscrutable questions, “It just isn’t” or “Because I said so,” then end the discussion by hiding behind a newspaper.

Ms. Allewalt [My Word, “For the benefit and blessing of the council – Musings on the Prayer Issue,” The Sentinel-News, May 28, 2014] it seems, never experienced a public prayer she liked in public meetings or governmental service meetings.

Like the inevitability of the flowers blooming each spring, we await the annual gauntlet of driving through our town’s streets.

Each year as the weather warms we’re inundated with charities lining up at stoplights, buckets in hand and crazy hats on their heads, seeking donations from drivers.

It’s not that we mind giving to charity or even traffic slowing down as most cars proceed with caution around those seeking donations for their charity. Although we do question if this is the best way to collect money.

Recently the head of a United Nations panel warned, "If the world doesn't cut pollution of heat-trapping gases, global warming could become out of control." A group of Nobel laureate scientists predicts dangers are going to become worse as time passes.

Cris Field of the Carnegie Institute for Science in California reports, "We live in an area where impacts from climate change are already widespread and consequential." Other climate scientists say, "Nobody around the world is immune."

They were talking about physics, saying that no object or no place can be truly empty. They argued that every place and everything is filled with something. The same rule applies to geopolitics and global leadership.